Okami, Fueds of the Clans
by Mysticalera
Summary: Chikako Okami is a Konoha transfer from a village in the Land of Wind, escaping with one of her students from her now seiged home for a new life. What happens when some knuckleheads try to help her take back her home after losing their village themselves? Will Chikako let them even try to help? And what happens when she starts falling for someone... in a rival clan?
1. Chapter 1

_**CHAPTER 1**_

I stopped from my journey and snickered. _He thinks he can hide from my senses? Think again, loser! _

"Come out! I know you're following me!" A ninja wearing a mask and the Konoha ANBU clothes came out in front of me. "Why are you following me? We're under a truce, and I'm not the type of person to break truces. Miss Lady Tsunade knows that,"

"Chikako Okami, I was sent to escort you the rest of the way." I clenched my jaw, slightly angered by this, but hid my emotion. "Who is this?" he asked, pointing to the girl asleep on my back.

"This is a Genin from my village. She was to come with me. Please try to understand and don't do anything to her… she's just a child," I looked at her sweet, calm face and got worried. _What if they try to take her? They can't! _

"Well, it is okay I guess… but, Lady Tsunade will want to know about this,"

"Well then, lead the way!" I smiled and let him lead me to a road, where he then began to walk towards the bright full moon, eastward, to Konoha, my new home.

"Awfully beautiful night, isn't it?" I asked, and the guy chuckled.

"It sure is. Well, that's just Konoha for you!" I smiled, and let my gaze go upward to the brightening sky. It would be morning soon. "U-um… can I ask you something?" The ANBU guy stopped short, and looked at me. I tilted my head and let my canine tooth peek out of my mouth, curious to what he wanted to ask.

"Sure, I guess. Asking doesn't hurt anything, anyways," he nodded, and lowered his gaze.

"I heard the Country of Wind, where you were from, was beautiful and serene. Why did you choose to leave it?" I sighed and pictured my homeland, the Okami Lands. I could practically feel the warm breeze and smell the flowers… I let a smile slip.

"More than half of that country is desert as you must know, but if you go the furthest west, you'll see a beautiful thriving forest with clearings full of nice smelling flowers and waterfalls and wilderness everywhere… it's everything you could imagine as what's called dreamland; it's more beautiful than anything you have seen. Yes, it was beautiful and serene, but there has always been something that's been troubling me with that land, even as a little kid, barely knowing anything."

"Like what?"

"Well, it's kind of a long story, but if you want to listen I will talk," The guy nodded.

"I'll listen!"

"Well… When I turned 9, I completed the Chunin exams, which is very honorable. My clan, the Okami Clan, is very close with wolves as you must know, right?"

"Yeah! They're world renowned for their friendship of wolves! It's said they can even mold their mind as one with the wolf! Is that true?" I smiled, nodding.

"Yeah, it's true, among other things. Every child, at the age of four, gets a wolf cub that would grow up with them and become their partner in battle, and my clan made a jutsu that allowed us to be one with the wolf's mind so we could convey our messages to one another through telepathy during battle. You sure do know a lot about my clan!"

"Well, you see… I'm interested in different clans' special techniques…"

"It's okay, you don't have to explain. Well, on to the story, shall we?" I smiled, and paused. "Well, I was 12 when weird things started happening. The people in my village soon started to turn up missing, and we were deployed to find them. Our senses could get even better than the wolf, so if anyone could find them we could."

"Really? Wait, like, your vision, nose, hearing, taste, and feel got even better than a wolf's?"

"Mine surpassed the wolf's level at 13. I was equal to the wolf at twelve. But yeah, you're right."

"Wow! The Inuzuka clan could never have one that!" I stopped short, and looked at the guy with my nose ruffled.

"The Inuzuka clan only deals with dogs. Dogs are domestic forms of wolves, so that is why. They're naturally weaker! They haven't seen a forest or caught their own meal once!"

"You shouldn't say that to any person of the Inuzuka clan or you'll be eating dirt for the rest of your life!" I narrowed my eyes in a sarcastic 'really?!' form.

"Do you know why my clan is renowned?" He shook his head. "Well, before we rose to supremacy, our greatest rival was the Inuzuka clan; we constantly engaged in fights, and spit words at each other every time was saw one of them. We were at war for decades, until we finally got them to surrender. Because of that, we were soon heard of and called on for help and we granted it for quite some time. We even crossed the great sea to help our clients! But, as the Third Shinobi World War drew nearer, the tasks got harder and came from both sides. We tried to stay flexible and balance our relations with the sides, but we couldn't, and were forced to choose. We called a session for consideration of either withdrawal from the war or choose sides and went everywhere, asking each of the sides what their story and view was and chose what was best for us. We sided with Suna, because our land was there and we agreed on their views the most. When the war ended, they granted us with permanent residence with our lands and a peaceful life, but we continued to take the cries of help."

"So… the cries of help helped you to rise to power?" I sighed.

"We didn't originally think it would come to that; we didn't want power, or for everyone to know our clan. Power comes with consequences, after all. We wanted to stay humble and low, and live life helping and doing the best."

"Oh… I guess that makes sense. But, what happened that made you want to transfer?" I stopped again and sighed, my eyes closed. I remembered it like it was yesterday.

"People in our village came up missing, and we were deployed immediately. My mother went out in the first wave and said that there was nothing there. They couldn't find any traces of people moving, and no traces of where any one of the villagers went. We sent out more people, covered more space… days went by and no evidence was found, but more people turned up missing; even those of our clan. The Okami that were captured… their wolves went crazy with grief. We become family with our wolf, and it was like losing your favorite family member. We become inseparable with our wolves.

"By now, one tenth of the whole village had been kidnapped… We started night posts, and for a time things quieted down, but we didn't slack off. I was called on one night with my wolf, Akane, and my parents to guard the East side. This was the last night we'd stay on guard; all the adults were exhausted, and we were relying on Genin now, which were all on duty the night I was. We all thought the crisis was averted, and we'd just have to live without the people we lost. But, we didn't know that the enemy was waiting for this moment.

"Around three, when everyone was tired, ninja started attacking my side of the village. We attacked back, and the moon revealed the headbands of Sunagakure ninja. We were betrayed! We fought back, now infuriated, and started to use our family jutsu instead of confusedly blocking the attacks. The Genin retreated and got Junín and Chunin, which started to wipe out the Sunagakure ninja, but reinforcements came and we were pushed back. My mom… well, she lost a battle. All I remember was seeing her one second, smiling at me, and then… a huge storm of sand took her away and rammed her into a huge spike… we soon surrendered, and the Sunagakure ninja took over the village. They told us the missing people were slaughtered."

"Wait… the Sunagakure Nin did this?!" The guy exclaimed, "Lady Tsunade won't stand this! She'll send reinforcements and get the rest of the villagers out and bring them here!" I smiled sadly, looking at the ground.

"That's kind of you, but… they're all too strong. I thought you could help us when I sent the letter, but I barely managed to get out of the Sunagakure territory alive with this young one, and I had to wait several _months_ for my injuries to heal from protecting her before I could travel again. My wolf, Akane, and her wolf, Kikako, protected me during that time and got very substantial wounds… I got my father to summon them back for healing, and when I get comfortable with the village and everyone starts seeing us as a friend I'll summon them to our new home. I don't want more deaths just for my clan… we're survivors, and have good guts and brains. We can get out of this," _I hope…_

"Why did you risk leaving then?"

"We had to cooperate with the Sunagakure Nin, who took over and watched us constantly; even training. We have to hide our signs from them to keep our jutsus as our secret. For a while, things went down smoothly in a strained and false peace, but we decided to riot, and the Sunagakure started slaughtering. My father told me to go and not to look back; he practically kicked me through the air to get me to go. I wanted to take some of the Genin, but… my father didn't let me. I snuck up and took this one though. My father found out when I got him to summon her wolf, and sent me one nasty letter," I chuckled, despite my aching heart. _Oh Father… please stay alive…_

"Does the Kazekage know about this? About what his Nin is doing?" I shrugged, and started moving on.

"I don't think so. Well, I think that at first it was his idea and then he tried to stop them, but they split off and started their own little rank, because they now have different headbands and hit anyone who ask of the Kazekage and yell at them."

"What does the symbol look like?" I bent down, minding the girl, and found a patch of sand and began drawing the headband's symbol; a bubble letter S with a sun on the right side.

"Does it mean anything to you?" He shook his head, got a scroll and pen out, and copied it and put the stuff back up.

"Come on, Konoha is right ahead. It's getting late, and Tsunade wants to meet you before you get settled in." I nodded, and we ran on in silence. I didn't really care though, because telling him the story reopened invisible wounds, and I had to recover.

We quickly started to run to Konoha, with the guy looking at us from time to time.

"What is it? I know you've been sending me glances," I asked finally, subconscious. _Does he know about the wounds I have under this traveling cloak?_

"Well… I was wondering who the girl was," _Thank goodness he doesn't…_

"Oh… she's called Asuka. She's skilled for her age, and we're like sisters. We've trained together since she entered our Academy and I want to help her achieve her goal, which is to be like me… She looks up to me like I'm a goddess, and I didn't want to leave her behind, because I agreed to be her teacher. She calls me Sempai and Sensei… I couldn't leave her in that Hellhole!" The guy laughed.

"You sound like Naruto!" I blinked.

"Naruto?" I asked, curious, and he nodded.

"He's the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails, but our most important Nin. He saved us from Pain, the leader of the Akatsuki!" I smiled, but it soon faded with the rest of the guy's words. "About that… you've kind of come at a bad time. Our village has been completely destroyed, and we're trying to rebuild it. But, we've got help from different nations, so we'll be okay. No one was killed though. Well, at first they were, but Pain sent some weird Jutsu in the air and revived everyone after Naruto talked to him. I was one that was killed, and then revived." I bit my lip. How can that be?

"That's-" Asuka stirred.

"Chikako-Don-?" She started, but quickly corrected herself with a stern look from me. "Chikako-Sempai… who is he?" I chuckled softly, knowing the crisis was averted, and smiled.

"This man is here to help us get to Konoha, our new home! We're almost there," She smiled.

"Then I'll be able to see Kikako again, and you'll get to see Akane!" she laughed and got down and held my hand, skipping as we slowed down. "Yay!" I bit my lip. _Akane… I miss you. If only I was better at the Telepathy part, then I'd be able to link our minds and I'd be able to talk to you! _

"We're here," the guy said, and we arrived at the scene of a disaster; there was a huge hole in the middle of the village, and parts of houses everywhere around the rim. There was a little camp at the middle and everywhere there could be tents, and houses were already built and being made. Asuka stopped short and looked out with her big brown eyes at the devastation quietly. _Oh no… Asuka, please… don't say anything! _A smile came to her lips.

"This sure looks kind of like our village…" I cringed, and looked to see the guy watching me. _He saw my cringe… crap! _"Can we do anything?"

"What do you mean-" the guy started but I interrupted him, desperate.

"Asuka, how about we get settled in before we help, okay? Come on," I let her climb onto my back and looked at the guy, hoping he didn't see the desperation in my eyes but only kindness. "How about you show us to Lady Tsunade?" He bit his lip, his eyes trying to analyze mine, and nodded. We turned and began walking through the tents with villagers and Nin both watching us. I saw many look at my markings and Asuka's little scratch marking, and heard gossip about us.

"Are they hurt?"

"Why do they have that paint?"

"Is that… the legendary...?"

"No, it can't be!"

"The Okami clan!"

"Are they going to take the village over?"

"No, they're transfers. They're going to be Nin here; they're from the Okami clan,"

We kept walking to the very back of the tents, and walked in to see a woman sitting up, very pale. She looked up and smiled.

"Ah, the Okami Clan is here finally!" She noticed Asuka now, who was hiding herself as good as she could from Tsunade behind me, clinging to my leg. "Who is this?" I bit my lip and let the desperateness show.

"Lady Tsunade, this is Asuka Okami… she is a Genin but very skilled for her age, like I was. Please, don't make her go back! We're like sisters, and I agreed to train her… I don't want to have to go back on my word," I heard footsteps, and someone walked in. A male, I supposed, from the smell of sweat.

"Lady Tsunade, thanks to Yamato, all of the South part of Konoha is now back to normal! We can get most of the villagers to move into the houses now! Also-" he stopped, like he realized us. I turned to see a blonde hair and blue eyed boy standing in front of me. "Who is this?"

"This is Chikako and Asuka Okami of the Okami clan. They are transfers, and now Konoha Nin. Actually, I was about to call for you. I want you to show these two around and find a house for them," I turned back to Lady Tsunade.

"No, we don't need a house; we're shinobi, anyway. Let someone else have the house," Tsunade nodded, and I turned back to the boy and tried to calm myself. My senses were taking so much in, my curiosity was burning to know what happened, my gut told me to drop everything and help, and I missed Akane terribly. On top of that, my right arm was starting to hurt again. I was glad we were wearing our traveling robes so they couldn't see the bandages. I shifted so Asuka's weight didn't hurt my arm as much, and Asuka sighed.

"Sorry," she whispered so that the untrained ear couldn't hear it. I shook my head slightly.

"It's not your fault," I whispered back, and tuned into the boy's words, which were forming a question.

"Why do they have markings like scratches on their heads?" He asked rudely to the ANBU guy, who slapped him.

"Ask her yourself!"

"They're the scratches of our wolves. We both have wolves with scars where you see the markings. My clan believes in sharing the scars, so we mark our skin when our wolves get a scar."

"Geez, who are these people?! That sure is a weird belief…" He whispered to himself, looking away.

"You shouldn't judge or mock others traditions. Some would call it rude and dishonoring and kill you in an instant if they heard that," I said, and the boy jumped back, startled.

"How did you hear me?!"

"We're very close companions with Wolves. It's normal for us to surpass the wolf's senses, which I have accomplished."

"So, you two are sisters? I don't really see the connection,"

"We're from the same clan, the Okami clan, but not sisters. Aren't you going to introduce yourself?"

"Oh! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm going to be Hokage someday! Believe it!" I sighed, and walked past him, outside, but I still heard what the ANBU said.

"Can I talk to you about something that's troubling me, Lady Tsunade?" Was he going to tell her? I shook it off and turned back to Naruto, who had followed me out.

"Well then, Naruto Uzumaki, you might want to get some brains," I muttered so he barely hears that I said something. Asuka laughed, making it even better.

"What did you say?! Come on, tell me! I heard my name!"

"So, what happened here anyways?"

"What made you want to transfer here?" I gave him a sideways look.

"Answer my question first, and then I'll answer yours," _He completely forgot his earlier question… how lame. And he's the one who saved Konoha?_

"Well, the Akatsuki's leader, Pain, came and started killing everyone and destroying the village to look for me, but I was somewhere else training. I learned of this, though, and came here and defeated him and talked to him, and he used what little strength he had left to bring back the dead," I sighed. _Not as detailed as I wanted it, but it's good enough. _

"Okay, then it's my turn," I launched into explaining as I did with the ANBU member, and at the end, Naruto was silent and looking very grim.

"I'm sorry I mocked you… I didn't know. Where are your wolves now? Are they healed?"

"I don't know yet; I haven't perfected the telepathy jutsu, so I can't tap into Akane's mind and ask. I just have to summon him,"

"Then why don't you summon them?"

"I don't know how the people of Konoha will act. I'm a stranger, anyways, and look what happened,"

"Well, let's go back to granny Tsunade and ask for a headband for you guys!" Naruto turned and took off, not even looking back to see if I was following.

"Naruto, wait!" I cried after him, but he didn't stop. "Awfully springy that one is, huh Asuka?" Asuka laughed. "Don't be like him when you grow up; being rash and rushing into things isn't wise,"

"Okay Chikako Sensei!" She giggled, and I took off after Naruto and finally caught up with him when he was a few yards away from the Hokage's tent, but something made me stop him. I heard talking; the Hokage and the ANBU member. He was relaying facts about how I acted and what I said about the village, and asked if they could do something. I heard a sigh, and the Hokage answered.

"We have to do something! There's Genin and villagers included, anyways. She didn't want to risk our lives? I think she knew beforehand what happened with Pain, so that's why she didn't want to risk our Nin. We're worse off than them, she probably guessed. But… what the child said was troubling. 'This is better than our village'… And how Chikako reacted to the statement is odd too…"

"We'll get some Junin to go check it out and act. Get Shikamaru and Neji to talk to Asuka and Chikako, okay? If anyone, they could probably crack their secret,"_ Great... now I'm going to have dogs down my back. Please, don't send anyone out!_

"Yes Ma'am," the ANBU stood up by the sound of it, and started walking out of the tent. I grabbed Naruto by the scruff and pulled him behind a tent and hid us three until the ANBU walked out, and I walked back into the open, sighing in distress.

"What was that about? HUH?!" Naruto exclaimed loudly, and glared at me.

"The ANBU guy that escorted me was in there. He told Tsunade about our village and they're going to send Junin out to help my village… I don't want to risk the lives of your Ninja after they've had to go through so much already," Naruto grunted and backed off, understanding.

"The thing about Konoha is that we don't desert our friends, no matter what, and we have something that makes us stubborn to do something called the Will of Fire. We're going to save your clan no matter what you two say, Chikako," I looked away at the ground, torn, and felt Asuka lean down to whisper into my ear.

"I think we should trust them… I miss Daddy and Mommy," I swallowed, and knew I had to keep a good example for Asuka. I looked back at Naruto.

"I know- I trust your word. I just think you've suffered enough,"

"Well… we're all alive, aren't we?" Naruto's eyes seemed to drift to something behind me, but I ignored it. _I can't let them do this! But... I miss my old life so much. Besides, Asuka wants me to... oh, what am I letting you get me into, Asuka?_

"In that case… I want to come with you guys. I want to be able to help. I know the area and where to avoid and where not to, where traps are, and where good hiding places are. It'll be good for you to have me; I know the area well," _Besides, they know I escaped and will put up even more traps… _

"And that, Chikako, is why you're going to lead a squad into the Sunagakure land when you recover from your journey and those hidden injuries." I spun around, alarmed, and cringed slightly as my stomach started hurting. I coughed and looked up to see Tsunade, still pale and barely standing up, behind me. "You were walking sorely. I'm also a medical Nin, so you can't fool me when you're hurt. Also, Neji here used his Byakugan by my command and commented to me how determined you must be to carry that child," I craned my head and finally noticed a guy with white eyes and black hair and a casual outfit on. He smiled and walked up to me. _So, this is one of the hound dogs. I need to be careful what I do around him..._

"You're chakra is low and there are…" he activated his Byakugan and let his eyes dart to the numerous wounds on my skin, and deactivated his Byakugan. "There are exactly eight injuries that you're hiding with that traveling robe. The littler girl, though, has no injuries, only low chakra. I'm guessing you defended her from weapons." I looked down and let a shadow block my eyes, hiding a dark look. _If this is one of them, I don't want to see the other. _

"You sure are precise." I commented, and Neji smiled.

"You must be Chikako, the Junin exchange from The Hidden Village of Packs. I'm Neji Hyuga, another Junin."

"Yeah, I'm Chikako Okami. This is Asuka Okami, a Genin that's my student."

"I'm going to be just as powerful as her and even better in personality!" Asuka said loudly, her hand reaching out and forming a peace sign. I could imagine her smiling with her eyes closed, and couldn't help but giggle.

"Uh, hey… Granny Tsunade? Can they have Konoha headbands? They miss their wolves terribly, but Chikako is worried that Konoha will freak out," Tsunade let her mouth fall a little and turned her head upward like she remembered something.

"That's right! I was going to get you to go get some headbands from the weapons maker!" Neji groaned.

"Um, the one that almost got Tenten, Naruto, and me killed?" Tsunade nodded. "Uh, then… can I guide her?"

"I guess so. Yeah, I think that would be perfect." Tsunade smiled.

"Can we go when we get rested up? I'm kind of tired, and Asuka here is nodding off…" I asked, feeling Asuka's head hit my shoulder and bounce up again.

"Yeah, that would be better. You three, meet up here later and go quickly, okay?" Tsunade said and we nodded, and split ways with Naruto showing me to a tent that we could have for now. We got in and went to sleep immediately, tired.

When I woke up, it was in the heat of the day. Asuka was still asleep, so I just lied back down and rested, not caring to go out and explore.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

The next day, we met with Naruto and Neji in Tsunade's tent. As we entered Tsunade smiled wearily, still pale. _She sure is sickly… I wonder what exactly happened in the invasion._

"Chikako, I can take care of Asuka while you get the headbands, okay?" I nodded as Lady Tsunade said this, but Asuka squirmed and strapped herself onto me stubbornly.

"No! I want to come with you! I want to prove I'm worthy of the headband too!" Tsunade sighed and I put Asuka down, who hugged my thigh hard, making me draw in a small breath from clenched teeth at the pain that came, making my face calm and hiding the fact that my thigh was screaming. Neji raised his eyebrows at this, and I immediately knew why he was one of my hound dogs. _I have to make sure and be extra careful when I'm around him._

"You sure are interesting." I shot him a glare, but didn't get to say anything.

"Wait, what? Why?" Naruto asked, slow to get things apparently, and I looked back at Asuka.

"Very well Asuka, you can come. But don't overexert yourself, okay now?" Asuka let go, stopping the pain, and smiled innocently. I smiled back, not able to help myself, but turned back to Tsunade as she began talking again.

"I'll appoint Neji the leader for now. Now, get out." She said, and I looked at Neji.

"Okay, let's go," he said, and took off. I followed him with Asuka beside me outside the tent, and Naruto followed behind in a confused state.

"What makes Chikako so interesting?" Naruto cried, but we ignored him and pressed on, into the forest and through some clearings and came out to a bridge and a house quickly. We crossed it and entered to find two guys, one old man and one young one, sitting around and drinking coffee.

A master and apprentice, I guessed. They smiled.

"Ah, Neji and Naruto! Did you come back to get more weapons? We have a new poisoned blade!" the old guy smiled and said, showing his friendly side, but the two boys quickly declined the invitation, oddly enough.

"No, we just came for two headbands for these people; they're transfers from a village in the Land of Wind." Naruto said, and the old guy looked disappointed as he sighed.

"Get a ribbon, girls, and Neji, you can get the metal part… They're over there, while the ribbons are over here." He led us to a cabinet, and pointed Neji to a desk. "Are you sure you don't want to bring back some multitasking tools for your lady comrade?" _I guess this is what it's like to be new._ _Why don't they accept his weapons?_

"Asuka, what color ribbon do you want?" I asked her since she was too short to see the colors, and she smiled innocently.

"Can you pick me up, Chikako Sempai?" I smiled and picked her up on my back, letting her look at the mass cloth collection. She hummed a bit, scanning the choices, and paused.

"Hmm… I want that one!" she pointed to the beautiful dark purple cloth, and the old man picked it up and looked at me.

"What do you want, young lady?"

"Well…" I looked at all the choices, and let my eyes rest on a beautiful ice teal color. I picked it up, and he smiled with soft eyes.

"I personally like that one," he said, and took it and walked over to Neji, who had our metal pieces, and molded it onto the cloth and gave it to us. As he did this Naruto, who was walking around, suddenly cried out and jerked back into a chair, which fell, and gained the attention of everyone in the room. He looked around and jumped up, hiding his hands, and gave us a sheepish grin as he backed up again.

"I'm okay!"

"Naruto…" Neji waned as he started to walk dangerously close to a sharp weapon, and Naruto stopped and froze. I sighed, not believing this guy was the one who saved Konoha.

Well… maybe that's why it's blown up.

I let it slip under my bangs and tied it on, and helped Asuka put hers on her neck before I remembered that our wolves were… well, wolves, and that the civilians may freak.

"Can we have two more for our wolves? If we aren't around when they're walking, well… it could be bad if someone got the wrong idea."

"Sure! What type of ribbon?" The old man walked to the cabinet again, and I grabbed two metal pieces, cold to my touch, and gave it to the man.

"Well… navy blue for them both." The old man made two more quickly and gave it to me, which I threw in my pouch.

"Thank you,"

""You're welcome! Come back whenever you want or need!" He smiled warmly again.

"Hmm… I like it! Thanks old mister!" Asuka said, and ran out the door. "Come on Chikako! Neji, hurry up and Naruto… get some brains!"

"EH?!" Naruto yelled, running out after her, and I couldn't help but laugh. "Come back here, you little snot! I'll show you who needs some brains…"

"Her chakra is returning… and I think it's going to be dangerous with those two together." I said, and Neji smiled. We bowed to the two and also ran out the door and caught up to Asuka and Naruto, who was now standing in a clearing a ways away from the house, Naruto glaring at Asuka. Asuka ignored him and looked at me, trying to reach up to my backpack but not quite tall enough, and I smiled. Knowing what she wanted to get, I dug out two scrolls and gave her the black one, and keeping the white one to myself. I looked at Neji and Naruto.

"We're going to summon our wolves now… if that's okay," they nodded, smiling, and stepped back. I opened my scroll, let it fall to the ground, and bit my thumb and pressed my hands together. _Dog boar ox monkey ram dog! _I slammed my hand onto the seal, and white smoke shrouded me from Asuka, Naruto, and Neji. I immediately felt a huge body attack me and cover me in slobber as it licked me, and the smoke disappeared to reveal Akane, healthy as ever. I smiled at him and hugged his neck hard, trying to keep back tears.

"Kika!" I heard Asuka yell Kikako's nickname, and looked over to see her hugging her black wolf which was smaller and younger than mine.

"Akane… I missed you. Are you healed? How is the village? Oh, I have headbands that mark you and Kikako as Konoha Ninken!" Akane let me get on his back and whimpered at the mention of the village, and I tossed Kikako's headband to Asuka and tied Akane's to his neck, listening curiously as he talked.

_Chikako Donno…_ _The Suna Nin that attacked has made their own little village, as we have feared. We found that out when Gaara-Sama came with his Nin and fought most of the other side off. The Suna that imprisoned us now call them Huna. The Huna won, and a lot of people have been beaten up bad. We're in bad shape, Chikako. _

"Oh no…" I whispered and glanced at Neji, the bloodhound that I had to keep this information from, and clenched my fists as he walked up to me curiously.

"What is it?"

"It's nothing," I said, and Akane got my attention again. In the corner of my eye I saw Naruto take this in quietly, his eyes narrowed.

_Asuka's mother and father… has been victim. You know now what that means, right? She is now an orphan… a war orphan. _I felt my heart fall and swallowed hard and looked at Asuka, who was silently talking to Kika while putting his new headband on. Suddenly she turned to me, her precious innocent face slightly confused, and I knew what was next.

"Chikako-Sensei, where is heaven?" I bit my lip and let a small whimper out, not making eye contact, and closed my eyes.

"Heaven?" Naruto asked, sitting down across me, and his eyes were sad as he looked at her.

"Well you see, Asuka-Chan…" _How am I going to break this to her? Gah…_ "Heaven is-"

"Asuka, heaven is an ancient place that honorable people go after they've proven themselves worthy. No one that hasn't proven themselves knows where the place is; not even elders. The honorable people who have proven themselves, though, get sent there to be relieved of their duties for a while; like vacation." I looked at Neji, surprised as he said this but nonetheless grateful.

"Really? Then I'm proud to be the child of Mommy and Daddy! How can I go visit them to tell them?" I bit my lip, and Naruto swallowed hard as Neji continued.

"Well, no one really knows. Not until they have proven themselves. Also, there's a system that says the honorable people have to take a very long journey, one that takes years, just to get there. After that, they spend more years there relaxing, and then they take the same long journey back. You may not see your parents for a while. Don't worry though; they'll probably visit you in your dreams! And one day, when you've proven yourself as well, you may go too," Asuka smiled, buying the story, and I sighed silently.

"Thank you, Neji-Sempai!" Neji let his smile drift away as she said this, probably surprised, and Asuka got on Kika. "You sure are smart! It's a weird system though…"

"Yes, I agree," Neji whispered, and let his smile come back.

"Neji-Sempai?" Asuka asked, and then paused, her eyes weaving back and forth from him to me. "If you don't mind me saying this, but… you two look cute together!" She blushed a little, smiled, and let Kika carry her back to the village quickly, wisely running while she could. I let my mouth drop and stared after her and Naruto let a yelp come out immediately before falling back, laughing as hard as he could

"WHAAA- NEJI!" He laughed loudly, hurting my ears, and I glared at Asuka running.

After a second, she looked back and stuck her tongue out playfully.

"Why you… Asuka, get back here!" I yelled, but she didn't stop. I groaned and looked at Neji, who dropped his shocked face and looked at me. An awkward silence fell upon us, and I swallowed. I heard Akane's deep, hearty laughter ring in my head and felt his shoulders shaking. I glared at him as he craned his neck upward. "It isn't funny! Akane, cut it out!" Neji furrowed his eyebrows, and I looked to see him shocked.

"Wait, that laughter is _him_?!" I looked down at Akane.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked, standing up and stopping his mocking laughing.

"You can hear him?" Neji nodded. "Akane, you stupid…" I heard a voice in my head.

_Stupid mutt… Stop it…_ Neji's thoughts came to me, and I immediately knew what was going on, and why Akane thought it was so funny. "Gahh! You just had to conjoin our thoughts?!" I yelled, and got off Akane and put my hands on my hips. "I swear, you-"

_S-she… _ I got an image inside my brain of me leaned over to Akane, and emotions rushed toward me. I felt my cheeks heat up.

"Akane I swear, I will send you flying through the air with just one kick! I'm not afraid to do that! Release this jutsu _now_!" I yelled, standing up straight.

_I can feel her anger… and irritation… and… is that… happiness? Glee? Excitement? _I turned around and faced Neji, trying to calm my emotions.

_Uh, Neji? I can hear your thoughts. You haven't had any training with mind jutsu, huh?_

_ No… _

_ Of course…_

_ "_Akane!"

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" Naruto yelled, making it worse.

_I can't release it! You of all people should know that! It'll wear out in two days. Tomorrow someone will be gone, and only two will be in the jutsu, and then the next day they'll lose the power to communicate silently, unless it's you and me, Chikako, because of the bondment we share. _

_ You suck… _I thought, and sighed.

"Come on; let's get back to the village…" I got on Akane, and immediately regretted it.

_Neji, you're next! Come on- I won't bite, and I don't have fleas! _I heard Akane's deep voice beckoning Neji over.

_No, no, Naruto- _I began to stop Akane's bickering, but he overpowered me and pushed my voice away.

_Come on Neji, we need to get back to the village! I want to see my new home._

"What the hell is going on?" Naruto asked.

"Akane decided to play a prank on me. Long story short, our minds our linked. Just forget it, Naruto." I said quickly, and Naruto sighed and left us.

"Whatever! See you guys later." _No! Don't go…_

Neji sighed and got on behind me and Akane took off immediately, so I couldn't get off.

_Asuka has a nasty surprise ahead of her… I think I'll change her shampoo with hair coloring… oh; maybe I can accidentally spill juice on her clothes! Or, I can…_ I started thinking of many pranks I could play on Asuka to get her back, and let my wall of mind isolation go down subconsciously. I could tell Neji was listening; I could hear him chuckle slightly every time I thought of a really dumb thought or humorous one. Akane laughed louder, not afraid or awkward one bit.

Oh, I'll get my revenge on him too; I already have a prank up my sleeve.

Neji started to break off and let his mind wonder and I usually found my mind filled with something about his life… I let my mind quiet down and return to the isolation, but still tapping into Neji's thoughts. I found that he was trying to think of places where Konoha was lacking in security and where their weak and strong points were and what to do if an attacker came, but it was interrupted suddenly with ideas on how to give me a compliment, the outcomes, and if it was good or not, and vital things to decide to either hang out with me more, avoid me, or something like an aim to become my friend or brother or aim higher.

Oh, this is going to suck…

When we got back to the Leaf Village, people were still busy as ever, but they still stopped to look at Akane, Neji, and me. I could hear everything as usual, like Akane did, but Neji was in our mind as well, so he could hear them too through our mind.

"That's Chikako. Is that her wolf?"

"They have identical markings! Is that a tradition?"

"Neji Hyuga with Chikako? Are they trying to hook up?"

"That girl's a hooker!"

"No she isn't! It was a mission! Didn't you hear?"

He could probably feel my anger, sadness and tenseness at these comments as they went on, but I didn't care.

Let him know… see if I care.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

When we finally found Asuka she was setting up a tent, with Kikako panting happily beside her. I jumped off and crept up on her, silent even to our ears, until I was close enough.

"Boo!" I said loudly, and put my hands on her shoulders. She didn't move, but turned into a log that fell. I glared at Kika, the one that had probably given me away, and looked around to see kunai coming out of a tree. I skillfully dodged them, and glared into the tree. Asuka came down with a boy and laughed at me.

"This is Konohamaru!" She said loudly, and smiled evilly at me. "Now!" Konohamaru put his hands together. I jumped back to where Neji and Akane was and let him scream something that I didn't quite get, and clouds formed around him. When they cleared there was a girl that looked just like me, except with brown eyes, in a way too small bikini. I let my mouth fall and felt rage enter my veins.

"Why you little… GAHH!" _You little brats! Get over here so I can punch your guts out! How DARE you embarrass me in our new HOME! First impressions are important! GET OVER HERE SO I CAN MURDER YOU, YOU LITTLE IDIOT! _I suddenly became aware of Neji's eyes on me, and blankness in his thoughts. I calmed down immediately, and sighed. _Sorry… I got, uh, carried away. _An explosion of thoughts came out from Neji just then; from perverted ones to negative ones to positive ones and encouraging ones. Finally, he calmed down and rested on one thought.

_Does she really look like that underneath that robe?_

At the time I was watching Naruto, who had come up and saw the whole thing, yell at Konohamaru for doing that and apologizing to me time and time again, while Asuka laid on the floor, laughing. As this thought creeped into my brain, I turned to look at Neji, who was still looking at me.

"Pervert," I whispered with an ominous look and turned away and crossed my arms, my back to the yelling, laughing, and screaming. Through the corner of my eye, I could see Neji's face, which was hilarious, and people stopping to look at the sight and smiling. A girl with pink hair, about my age, came over to Naruto and hit him and joined in, and made the insanity even crazier.

About thirty seconds later, I caught a whiff of something I _didn't _want to smell.

Inuzuka Clan stench and mutt.

I let my hands drop and my face relax into a curious one and looked around, but there wasn't any mutt anywhere, or anyone with the familiar fangs on their cheeks. I looked at Akane.

_Do you smell that, Akane?_

_ Smell what?_

_ Inuzuka stench._

_ Oh? Wait… I think I smell it too. It's coming from the south, your back, right? _

_ Yeah. _

_ Inuzuka? You mean Kiba and Akamaru? _I heard Neji ask, and I nodded. _They should be off of the Post duty now; I wouldn't doubt if you smelt him. And is this how it always is, with your senses? It's so surreal! _

_ Great… and yeah, it's that way 24/7. _I thought and looked around again and finally spotted them, walking together and smiling. I sat down beside Akane and nuzzled into his side, getting comfy, and looked up at Neji. _Tell me about this Inuzuka kid._

_ Well, he's short tempered; say something about Naruto getting Hokage and he explodes, and in battle he's impulsive. He makes mistakes because of that. Also, he's a bluffer; he loves to go up against stronger opponents than him, even though he usually loses. He loves his dog dearly, too. _

_ Of course he is; that's normal. _Akane whispered.

_Also, he thinks of himself as the alpha male, so to speak, but is also very protective of his friends. _

_ Thank you, Neji. _I thought, and let my gaze drift to Kiba, who was now starting to sniff the air and look around.

"Oh, so you can't see me? Your eyesight is poor, Inuzuka." I said loud enough so that he had to hear me and saw him try to look at me, but shook his head. He started walking faster.

"Who are you?!" He said way too loudly, and I clenched my right ear.

"Ow! Way too loud, Inuzuka! I have sensitive senses, idiot." Kiba finally saw me and gasped, stopping.

"Okami, here? I thought they were in Sunagakure!" he whispered half to himself, and I chuckled.

"So you haven't heard what happened with my clan? Come here; I guess I should tell you." Neji sighed.

_ I'm going to leave. See you! _Neji said.

_Bye. _Neji started to walk away.

_What are you planning to do? _Akane asked.

_ Well, I think I'm just going to tell him what happened, but if he gets cocky like Neji described, then I may lose my patience. My temper is short, too. It's up to him. _

_ I can still hear your thoughts? _I heard Neji ask, and I laughed out loud. Kiba gave me a dirty look, still trying to run up to me in the crowded streets.

_Yeah, no matter how far you go, once you use the Multiple Mind Molding technique you can still hear the thoughts of the others. Great for hostages, if you set it up before they get caught. You see, once you set up any one of the molding brain techniques, they'll stay intact until a certain amount of days. The only reason why I couldn't hear Akane's thoughts earlier was because the jutsu had ran out of days, and neither of us has had enough training to get it back together through the large amount of distance. _

_ Oh, I understand now. _

_Inuzuka's coming; I may not be able to reply to you for a while. _

_ Got it. _

Kiba finally got to me and bent over, huffing, and Akamaru went over to Akane's head and sniffed him. I looked up at the Inuzuka.

"Go on; sit if you want. It may be a long story,"

"Why do you think I want to know your story?"

"Why did you run over here? Also, you asked, 'Okami? Here?' so I thought you wanted to. But, if you don't, then I think I should go over there and break up the crazies," I motioned my head over to the group, who were all still doing the same thing. Inuzuka gave me a pouty face and sat down reluctantly. I smiled mischievously, letting my canine tooth come out. "Good boy," I said, and Kiba glared at me.

"Just because I'm part of the Inuzuka clan which is inferior to your clan doesn't mean you can treat me like a pet!"

"I'm not trying to; it was a joke. Sorry if I insulted you that much!" I said, and sighed. "So do you want to know why I'm here or not?" Kiba grumbled.

"Fine…" I launched into my story, explaining more things than I had to with the ANBU guy like how the Huna people treated us and more detailed about the night; two horrible things that I couldn't choke flashbacks of out of my head, which Neji had to be seeing. I choked back a knot in my throat as I talked, but it didn't go away and made my voice sound weird.

Finally, I finished, and Kiba was looking at the ground.

"Oh…" I sighed and got ready to get up and deal with the crazies, but he grabbed my wrist. When our skin made contact, my skin tingled and I felt a shiver run up my spine. "I don't know your name,"

"Chikako. Chikako Okami."

"Kiba," He smiled. "What about that girl over there? Is she your sister?"

"No, but we're about as close as friends can get to sisters. I'm her Sensei. I was told to just leave alone, but I couldn't leave her there in that Hellhole. She's Asuka…" I paused, and bent over so I could whisper into his ear as soft as I could, "She's a war orphan," and got up and turned to look at Asuka, still laughing, but also crying from laughing. She was screaming with delight.

So she couldn't hear it… good.

"Oh, oh, it hurts! Stop it already! IT HURTS! My spleen hurts! My intestines hurt! My _stomach_ hurts!" I sighed, and walked over and picked her up into my arms, which made her stop laughing immediately. "Sensei?"

"How about we go see if we can do anything for the villagers?" I asked, and smiled. She nodded, but got down and went to my backpack.

"Can I change into my usual Nin clothes? I'm kind of tired of just a robe, a T-shirt, and shorts." I nodded.

"Sure; I'll do the same," I said, and dug out my clothes too and went into the tent and zipped it up, quickly changed, and let Asuka change.

Surprisingly, Kiba was still there when we finished. He took a look at my clothes, a light blue sleeveless and cut kimono, a sleeveless fishnet shirt, some plain black shorts, and a leather jacket (that hid most of my injuries) and smiled.

At least he only saw a scratch or two on my leg.

"Hey, let's hang out. Maybe we can train together! I'd love to go against an Okami!" I smiled and put my bluish hair into a ponytail.

"I'd love to beat an Inuzuka to a pulp too!" Kiba laughed.

"I'd love to see you try!"

"You're on! Just as soon as we help around some," Kiba lost his smile and sighed.

"We can't really do anything right now; I've looked at the board they put up for the volunteers. Everything's taken by other Nin. Let's go!" It was my turn to sigh.

"You're so impatient!" Asuka came out just then and smiled at us.

"Are you going to show me how to do that one combined technique with our wolves? The one you did with Akane when you protected me from the Huna Nin?" I cringed and let my hand fly to my shoulder, where a hidden bandage was under my jacket.

"No, you're too young to be using that technique. If it's combination you want to work on, then I'll show you some Genjutsu that you release with your wolf!" Asuka smiled and squealed.

"Yay!"

"But first she's going against me!" Kiba said, and Asuka dropped the smile and put on a bored face.

"That won't last long… and you'll be sore for weeks!" She said, and I burst out laughing as Kiba's face relayed pure irritation.

"Why you…" I got on Akane and Asuka on Kika and we started to run off laughing, leaving Kiba behind, fuming.

He quickly caught up though.

But also tired out before us.

When we finally got to a clearing, Asuka and Kika went to the edge and let us have the battlefield.

"So, with or without our canines?" I asked when Kiba showed up.

"With, of course you idiot!" He said and put his hands together, but I was too fast.

"Water Style, Water Barrier!" I yelled, and let Kiba hit harmlessly on my protective wall and fell back, rubbing his head. _Akane, Combination F! _I thought, and Akane got to my right and I put my hands together. "Combination Jutsu: Twin Fire Beast Wolves!" I yelled, and patted Akane and let fire succumb us. We then jumped up and twisted around, causing a huge fire ball, and hit Kiba directly. I added a kick to the stomach to send him flying into a tree and stood straight, proud. Akamaru ended up flying towards Kiba too, probably because of Akane. They got up and Kiba put his hands together.

"Fang over Fang!" A regular version of our fire technique came at us, and we easily dodged.

_Formation U, Akane! _

_ Are you sure? It'll split us up!_

_ Yeah, just get the dog! I got Inuzuka! _

_ Okay… _Akane ran over to the other end of the clearing, leading Akamaru away from Kiba, and attacked, using Lone Wolf's Jump, which required Akane to jump up and slam down onto the enemy. I turned my attention to Kiba and got a smack in the face. I flew back and landed on my butt hard.

"Tsh… that won't keep me down!" I said, and got up and slammed my hands together. "Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!" I yelled, and moved my hand to my mouth and blew out balls of fire. Kiba dodged them skillfully, but one hit his leg, burning him. "How about some water for that?" I asked as he cried out, and I put my hands together again. "Water Style: Water Supersonic Wave!" I yelled, and put my hand in the air. A huge boomerang of water formed, and I threw it to Kiba at deadly speed. He couldn't dodge it and was thrown back.

I watched him as he tried to get up, but fell back down. I sighed, walking over to him.

"Here, let's call it a day, okay?" I asked, giving him my hand, but he smiled evilly and the next thing I knew I was flying through the air, a huge metal looking thing pushing me upward. I could feel it start to penetrate my skin already, and knew I had to do something.

I quickly grabbed the metal thing with my hands and feet and pushed off and backwards, so I fell down and into the ground, which crumbled under me. I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling pain overtake me.

When I opened them, however, I saw that I was under the ground, sealed off. I couldn't breathe, either, which told me the thing on top of me was on good. I could hear Akane trying to dig for me, but I stopped him.

_Akane! Back away! I have an idea!_

_ Got it! _

I put my hands together and laid still, trying to calm myself down.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

Kiba's POV

I started to get worried the next minute. Chikako didn't do anything from the spot in the ground that I had trapped her in; she didn't even scream. But, the Wolf had his own Jutsu that he could use and wasn't going down easily.

Around a whole minute after Chikako was trapped, Shikamaru and Neji appeared. Neji went over to Asuka and her little wolf and sat down, talking, and Shikamaru watched me, a smile on his face.

"So you're that bored that you'd mess with a wild animal, Kiba?"

"No, this is just one of my enemies. The other one's in there," I motioned to the little mound of dirt, and Shikamaru rolled him eyes.

"How long have they been in there? Is your fighter the Okami Junín?" Shikamaru asked, only slightly interested.

"Yeah, Chikako Okami. She's been in there… a minute now, I guess," Akamaru confirmed this with a bark. "Yeah, a minute,"

"She's going to suffocate! Get her out, Kiba!" I stopped immediately, and stared at Shikamaru. _Suffocate? Wait, did I really bury her that deep so that she couldn't get out? I also just assumed that she knew a jutsu that could get her out of there. Also, the wolf was trying to dig her out when I dragged it away and engaged in a fight. Crap! Did I really just KILL my crush?! Not good! _I began to run to the hole, but a little voice stopped me.

"No! Chikako-Sempai has an idea! She was counting on something like this to happen! Stop!" Asuka yelled, and I did, and the wolf charged me. I charged it back, and pressed my hands together.

"Fang over-" a huge explosion of fire came from where Chikako was, stopping me short and gaining everyone's attention. I looked to see a huge dragon head made of fire coming out, burning the ground, and out hopped Chikako, now looking different with some marks on her face, like Naruto had during Sage Mode. She smiled at me, and my heart beat faster from the smile.

_Kiba… shut up; you're embarrassing yourself. _My inner self said with a face palm.

Chikako put her hands together and quickly did some signs that were far too fast for me to read.

"Sage Mode: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!" She yelled, and the usual fireballs came out of her mouth, but they were faster in rotation, more defined in shape, hotter, and faster… loads faster. I ducked down low to the ground, but felt heat lick my sides and back as the fireballs whizzed above me. "Sage Mode: Water Fang Bullet!" A huge twirling mass of water came straight at me, and hit me hard in the chest and enveloped me, drenching my clothes and propelling me backward. _This is what she was holding back? Holy cow, she isn't even trying to kill me! Beauty sure can be a killer!_

"I give up!" I yelled, panting. I was drenched with water, I smelled bad, my clothes were clinging uncomfortably to my skin, and my hair was singed. Akamaru, too, was like this, but Chikako and Akane didn't have a single scratch except for when I drilled Chikako's stomach. Laughter erupted from behind me.

"Kiba Inuzuka, forfeiting? Who would have thought?" Shikamaru asked and looked at Chikako, who looked like herself now but still beautiful as ever. "Sage Mode, eh? Your injuries must be healed," She shook her head, and for the first time I saw her clenched fist and jaw and how pale she looked. "Can you talk?" she shook her head again. Neji got up.

"She says her wounds are hurting and something's wrong with her stomach. She's bleeding, I know, but something else too that's making her unable to talk and in so much pain. She thinks it's when Kiba kicked her." Shikamaru looked lazily at Neji.

"Since when did you become a mind reader?"

"Since her Wolf sent me into their Multiple Brain Mold." Shikamaru laughed.

"You know her thoughts now because of that? Wow,"

"She told me it's a secret jutsu that her clan uses to convey message and ideas on battlefield with allies so their enemies can't tell what they're doing," Shikamaru cut his 'lazy' act and raised his eyes, blinking.

"Really? That's actually pretty cool," Shikamaru admitted, and looked at Chikako. She looked up with her left eye squeezed shut and forced a smile on her lips that faded immediately as she fell in a coughing fit. I ran up and squatted down next to her, putting my hands on her back and arm, holding her as she coughed.

When she stopped finally, she pulled away from the ground and revealed blood trailing down her mouth. She looked at me, her eyes conveying her pain. I felt my stomach churn in worry. _What have I done?_

"Kiba…" She whispered quietly before collapsing into my arms. I gasped and immediately picked her up, getting on Akamaru. Akamaru took off with Akane, Asuka and Kikako following closely, and Shikamaru and Neji left behind us. Akane stopped briefly to let them on and caught up, nuzzling Chikako and whimpering as we ran.

"It's okay, Akane… she'll be okay…" I whispered, and bit my lip. _I hope…_ "Akamaru, faster boy!" Akamaru sped up, and we entered the village moments later, jumping over people and running as fast as we could to the medical tent.

Finally, we got there and had Sakura check her out. I made Kikako and Asuka stay outside the tent, though, as I got the feeling that she wouldn't be able to handle what she would possibly see. She took her jacket off and checked her pulse and started healing Chikako, her face tense and grim. From the jacket I saw more bandages that Sakura took off to reveal more gashes, even worse than the ones on her knees. I looked at them, surprised. _So she agreed to battle me with those? I don't know if I think she's even cockier than me or just strong._

"She's hurt in the stomach… I have to see why," She pulled Chikako's kimono up to expose her stomach and gasped. The skin was healing, but some metal was lodged into the skin. "Crap! I need a kunai, anyone!" I quickly tried to get out a kunai, but Neji beat me to it and handed it to Sakura, who used it to tear at the flesh around the metal object to get a big enough hole to get the metal object out. I felt my eyes waver away, unable to look at Chikako's stomach in guilt.

Once the skin clinging onto the metal object was off Sakura quickly grabbed the metal, pulled it out, and immediately began healing her back up as blood slowly trickled down Chikako's side. The skin slowly closed back up, and only a little scar was left. Sakura sighed and cleaned off Neji's kunai and gave it back to him.

"That was close… her previous injuries are healed now, as well as this one. What is this anyways?" She asked, holding up the metal piece. I looked away and at the scar that she now had, because of me, and bit my lip. I heard a growl and looked up to see Akane looking at me with stern eyes. I put on my pouty face but gave in, knowing it was the right thing to do, and felt guilt overwhelm me.

"I did that… we were fighting and I used my new technique, but it ended up breaking my shuriken that hit her stomach. I didn't know it broke off though," At that moment a shadow fell upon us and I looked up to see my mother, of all people. I jumped up, slightly shocked and slightly scared at the same time. My mom… well, she isn't exactly the let's-go-pick-flowers type of woman…

"M-Mom! What are you doing here?!" I asked, stuttering slightly.

"I smelled you with some odd people here, and I thought I might want to know what my son is doing!" I sighed and shook my head.

"It's nothing! I was just training with some friends and it-"

"Friends that have wolves?" She asked, and my stomach churned. Neji, Shikamaru, and Sakura beat it, making me feel irritated.

"They're-"

"They're the Okami clan, that's what they are! Why are you hanging out with them? You know the feuds between us! Now, get away from this scum and come back to the tent so I can ground you!"

"It's… my fault… Miss… Inuzuka…" I heard a small voice choke out, and I looked down to see Chikako looking upward at my mom, her left eye closed. "I'm… sorry,"

"You're fault? What happened then?"

"I was feeling… cocky and challenged him to a fight… and lost…" she whispered, and looked away. "It's dishonorable to my clan," I stared at her, not believing what I heard.

"Damn right it is! Stay away from my Kiba and Akamaru or else you'll be put in the ground!" I stared, dumbfounded at Chikako until my mom practically dragged me away. _Why would she do that? She barely knows me! We aren't friends yet! _"I like her! She's honest!" My mom chirped after we got outside the tent, and I knew Chikako heard what she said. Asuka and Kikako were nowhere to be seen, though, giving me the feeling that they snuck in as everyone else left.

"She wasn't honest… I'm the one who was cocky and lost. I saw them setting up their tent and went over to them. They told me about how their clan is in trouble and why they transferred here, and we decided to have a battle to see who was stronger and I lost," I said bluntly, and looked at the ground. "And she took the blame for it," My mom stopped short and I prepared myself for the worst, but she smiled.

"I still like her! She covers for her friends, even though their acquaintances! She sure pounded some cocky outta you, huh? I say we invite her to dinner! I'd like to know more about how the famous Okami clan got in trouble!" I gulped and stared at my mom disbelievingly. _She's trying to kill me! She's trying to kill me from embarrassment in front of a cute girl! This is how she's going to punish me!_

"WHAT?!" I yelled, and she laughed loudly. _Chikako can hear this whole conversation, no doubt. She's probably laughing away, having the best time of her life. _

"I was mean. Go back and apologize for me and invite her and her sister-"

"Student and friend," I corrected her, and she gave me a glare.

"-_friend_ over for dinner tonight. We're going to have whatever she likes, along with our favorites! 8:00 sharp!" I let my eye twitch, ticked off.

"Why can't you? You're the one who did the action that has to be apologized for!"

"Kiba, I am your mother and you will obey me! Now, go back in there and ask the nice Okami clan girls if they want to join us at dinner!" She patted me hard on the back and pushed me back towards the tent, and I slunk reluctantly back to inside and walked to Chikako, who was now sitting up. Asuka and Kikako were at her side, looking on with a mischievous look. Chikako smiled softly, her eyes tired and soft. I could tell she had a fever from the way her skin was red.

"Onigiri and fish," She said before I could say anything and I tilted my head, confused.

"What?"

"I like Onigiri and any type of fish, along with Yakitori, Satay… meat. Just, don't cook too much," She moved to the side of the bed and groaned, closing her eyes in pain. I immediately put my hand on her back, worried.

"Hey, lay back down!" I said sternly, and she smiled sadly.

"You sound like my father when I had that horrible virus. Remember that, Asuka? How I had promised you I'd show you the Multiple Mind Mold technique tomorrow and woke up the next day with a fever, chills and weakness, but still went out and showed you and collapsed?" Asuka laughed, and nodded.

"Yeah, you wanted to get back out to the training grounds to help me do a successful Mind Technique, and he found out and grounded you! Man, those were some funny days! You kept sneaking back out in your pajamas, using shadow clones to cover your butt, but you always got caught!" I smiled and rolled my eyes, shoving Chikako softly until she lied back down. _Sounds like something I'd do… maybe we have more in common than I thought._

"Just get some rest, okay? I'm going to go to the stream up past the north entrance and meet up with Shikamaru, Naruto, Ino, Sakura, and a few others in a little swim party. Come on out when you're better, okay?"

"She doesn't have a swimsuit, fool," Asuka said harshly, and glared at me. "Also, I'm coming too!"

"Asuka!" Chikako exclaimed, and looked at the child, shocked. Asuka looked down at Chikako and leaned in, whispering something quickly, and leaned back, still glaring at me. Chikako chuckled slightly.

"But, we do need something to swim in. Does Sakura or Ino – whoever they are – have some extra swimsuits for us?" I smiled and started to say something perverted, but Asuka suddenly got out a stick from nowhere and beat me on the head twice.

"We are not strippers!" She said loudly, and a few people looked at us weirdly. I sighed and gave her an exasperated look. "I always wanted to do that to someone!" She said with a smile, her usual self showing back up.

"Fine! I'll get Ino, Sakura, and a few other girls to come by to meet you. Leave it to me! But Asuka… I may have a hard time finding someone your size,"

"Konohamaru will help me! He has a friend in his team that's the exact height as me! I'll go find him now, actually," She got up and ran off with Kika following her. Chikako sighed.

"I feel better now… I really am sorry about Asuka's sudden change in behavior; it isn't like her."

"Nah, it is okay," I said and leaned against Akamaru, beside Chikako, and put my hands to my head casually. "She's just a kid,"

"Yeah," She sent me a warning look, and I nodded.

"Well, you'll be a good Sensei for her; I can tell already." She rolled her eyes.

"We'll see." She whispered, and closed her eyes. She looked so peaceful that… I just wanted to… I refrained myself from having my way and got up. Chikako's eyes sprang open.

"I'm going to go around and get Ino and some others to visit you," She nodded, and I walked out the tent, passing Sakura on my way. "Hey Sakura, can you lend Chikako a swimsuit for the get together?" I asked, and Sakura sighed.

"Well, I used to have one that would fit her perfectly, but it got destroyed with my house. I only have the one I'm wearing now under these that I had just gotten on when Pain…" She trailed off, and I nodded.

"It's okay. See you later!" I ran out with Akamaru and sniffed the air and quickly found Ino, picking some wildflowers. She was outside of Chikako's hearing range, which I was relieved to know. "Ino!" She turned and smiled.

"Hey, Kiba! What's up?"

"Well, you know about the Okami transfers, right?" She nodded.

"Yeah, I saw them a while ago. They seem nice and someone I can become friends with, especially the older one. Why?"

"Well, I was thinking that they could come to the swimming party to meet everyone, but they don't have a swimsuit. The littler one, Asuka, already has some friends she's asking, but the older one, Chikako, is in the medical tent because…" I trailed off and remembered it was my fault. Guilt flooded my senses. "Well, because we were training and I accidentally lodged a piece of metal in her stomach," I whispered, and Ino sighed.

"I think I have one… I'll go meet Chikako now and see what size she is. But it's going to be hard, Kiba. Have you seen this place?" I choked back perverted thoughts and nodded.

"Okay. If you don't, can you find someone who does?" She nodded and smiled. "Thanks Ino!" I got up to go, but got an idea. Since Ino was popular with the girls, she'd be able to help greatly with this. "Can you take them around and introduce them to some people?" Ino nodded. "I owe you! I would usually do this, but… she's female, and I have guy friends, so… it wouldn't work out good," _Also, I'd be destroying my chances. _

"Are you saying…? Kiba Inuzuka has a crush on an Okami clan girl?!" Ino exclaimed loudly, and I cringed.

"Shut it!" Ino giggled and picked up her flowers, standing.

"Fine!" She paused and closed her eyes, concentrating. Suddenly she broke out in giggles and smiles. "Aww, you two would make a perfect couple! So cute!" She opened her eyes and jumped a little. "Oh my God! Oh my God! I totally ship Kiko! No… Chiki! Or Chiba… Aww! Your names make such cute couple names! I'm shipping this way too hard!" I stepped back, alarmed with how she was reacting, and let a small shaky breath leave my clenched teeth. _Chiba?! Chiki?! What has this world come to? _

"Thanks for uh, doing this for me, Ino…" I stuttered, and Ino laughed.

"Oh wait!" She stood up, her face bright. "No, wait… Chikako Inuzuka for when she gets married… I like it! Hmm… but, there's also the couple name… oh! Chiba Okaka! Aww, it's so cute!" _Chiba Okaka… God I'm glad Chikako didn't hear that! _I blushed slightly, much to my embarrassment. _Chiba… not that bad of a name. Psh… _

"Oh, shut it Ino," I muttered, and she giggled.

"But I originally thought Neko would have been possible," I froze and looked at her, confused. "Neko; Neji-Chikako," I looked away, trying to hide my real emotion. _Why, that Neji! I swear, he is going _down_! I look twice as better as him. That little… _Ino looked at me with a knowing look, and I felt my face heat up.

"Oh, just go away!" I yelled playfully, and Ino laughed and ran towards the medical tent.

My mind started to wonder into the dark side of my mind as I walked to my tent, but I was jerked back to reality as a stone hit my head hard. I turned, rubbing where the stone hit, and saw none other than Asuka and Kikako. Anger welled up inside me, and I exploded.

"Why you little… what's the big deal, hitting me?! What did I do to you?!" She smiled mischievously, her eyes sparkling.

"CHIBA! CHIBA OKAKA!" She yelled, and ran off. I ran after her, followed by Akamaru, and could tell she was going back towards the medical tent. I knew we were now in Chikako's line of smell and hearing now and finally caught Asuka and swept her into my arms, her kicking.

"You better watch it!" I warned, and dared her silently to ask why.

"What would you do if I didn't?" I snickered.

"I'd tickle you to death!" I said loudly and tickled her neck, making her yell with laughter. I smiled and Asuka swatted my hand away and wriggled down, out of my arms and ran off. I chuckled, and looked at Akamaru. "Come on boy; let's go back to the tent," I said, and jogged back to tell my mom what Chikako wanted for dinner and to get ready for the get together; I had a motive to actually care about what I wore now from the little clothes we had scraped up.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Chikako's POV

An hour later and I had met Hinata, Ino, Tenten, Shino, Choji, Shikamaru, Rock Lee, and numerous older and younger shinobi because of Ino and her persistent nature to show me to everyone. She had started out just meeting me and getting to know one another, but once I got to go from the medical tent she took me to everyone, introducing me and my 'cutie faced wolf', and ended in her taking me to her tent with Akane waiting outside. She had me try on the meager bathing suits she had until we settled on an ice blue bikini that fit perfectly.

I made sure my mind was blocked from Neji.

Ino gave me a matching cover up skirt and smiled.

"Thank you Ino… I don't know how I can-"

"Think of it as a favor, okay? It's on me." She smiled and I sighed, relieved. "Chiba WILL exist someday… I know it," she muttered to herself, and I cocked my head.

"Chiba? Whose couple name is that?" I asked, and Ino looked up and put a poker face on.

"No one's!" She laughed, and cut the act. "I don't want to make it awkward between you two…"

"Us two? Wait…" I silently went off all the guys I knew, and finally got to one name; Kiba. "Kiba?" I asked, startled, but still pleased. If she thought it was a good idea then it _must_ be a good idea. Ino laughed.

"Yeah. At first though I thought Neko- Neji and you, would be more plausible, but now that I think of it, your personalities are too… incompatible. Besides, you and Kiba are canine friends," I felt my cheeks heat up quickly and looked at the ground, embarrassed. "Hey, it's a good thing; Kiba's really good and protective! He's loyal too, and sweet!"

"Really?" I asked, but just then I caught a whiff of Asuka who entered the tent just then, smiling.

"I thought I heard you two talking! Chikako-Sempai, can you teach me that one jutsu?" I smiled and tilted my head.

"Sure! Which one?"

"The uh… I think you said… 'Sage Mode: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique', right?" I bit my lip, my smile fading. Ino looked at me disbelievingly.

"Sage Mode! You can go into Sage Mode? I only know of two Nin who can do that- Naruto and Jiraiya! That's… unbelievable!" Ino choked out, shocked.

"Asuka, you're too young to learn that." I said, and she pouted. "Come here," I said, and exited the tent, my kimono and shorts on top of my swimsuit, and walked up to a tree.

"Chikako-Sensei?" Asuka asked, confused. I got a kunai out and stuck it in the tree and made a mark on it, around my height.

"Whenever you get this tall, Asuka, then I'll teach you the jutsu, okay?" I said, smiling, and put my kunai back. Asuka pouted, seeing how tall she was compared to that, and glared at me.

"No fair! Hey, is that your swimsuit?" Asuka noticed my swimsuit top showing through, and laughed. "I have one on too!" She showed me her little strap and jumped up so that she was the same height as the marking, and sighed. Ino came out just then, her swimsuit on, and waved at us.

"Come on; let's go!" I smiled at Asuka who called Kika over and got on him as Akane wagged over to me. I got on and let Ino join me, Ino giving us instructions on where to go, and in no time we made it to a beautiful waterfall with a little clearing. We were the first ones there, so we went ahead and hid our clothes by the rocks and jumped in, talking about the usual girl talk calmly. Tenten, Hinata, and Sakura joined us, and we included them in the talk until I smelled the guys coming.

Shikamaru, Choji, and Naruto were first, and then came Rock Lee, Neji, Shino, and Sai. The guys took their shirts off, showing all their ripped stomachs, and everyone started laughing and splashing about, having fun. Even Akane and Kikako joined in, barking and whimpering happily.

_She looks awfully cute in that bikini… _I suddenly heard Neji's voice say inside my head, and Akane and I shared a look. I quickly sank down so that only my neck and head was above water, and Akane burst out laughing in my head. Neji looked towards me and blushed deeply, realizing that I heard what he said. _Damn it. _

Ino saw me and gave me a stern look before grabbing my arm and pulling me to my feet.

"Hey, don't be insecure now! You're fine! Actually… if you look carefully, the guys are giving you glances," I choked back a blush, and Akane padded over to me and licked my shoulder.

_You do, you know. Even Neji agrees! _I saw Neji blush deeply, looking towards the waterfall, and I smiled a little bit and sighed. I cleared my insecurities and smiled at Ino.

"Thanks, Ino," She smiled and pulled me to the group, which was forming a circle. Naruto had a ball in his hands and hit it in the air to Sakura, who threw it to Ino, who smiled at Asuka and threw it to her. Ino leaned in.

"The object is to keep catching the ball and get others out by making them drop it." Asuka threw it exceptionally hard to me, which I caught and smiled. I nodded at Ino and threw it at Neji, who caught it and blushed. I ignored the thoughts that followed and looked around, realizing that Kiba wasn't here yet. I smelled him, though, so I bet he was just a little late.

After a minute, we all heard a yell and two objects went flying down from the waterfall on top of us. We all swam away, barely avoiding being hit by none other than Kiba and Akamaru. Everyone laughed, and Naruto counted everyone.

"…13, 14… we're all here! Okay then… let's play Truth or Dare!" He yelled, and everyone gathered around and sat on the water, using their chakra to keep them up. Ino looked at me worriedly, and I returned the look.

_They better not make me or Asuka do anything idiotic. _

_ Oh Chikako, lighten up! Remember when you used to play this with your friends back home? It'll probably be like that. _Akane's deep voice tried to reassure me, but a pang of homesickness followed. I flashed back to when I was 15 and felt tears sting my eyes, seeing some passed games, but choked them down and forced a smile and looked up. I saw Neji's eyes looking straight at me, his face blank.

_We usually don't make people do idiotic stuff; it's kind of like in the flashback, but if we know of a crush we'll make one of them two do something. Sometimes it leads to Seven Minutes behind the Waterfall, but nothing happens. _I got a flashback from Neji of previous Truth or Dares and Seven Minutes behind the Waterfall and smiled as he showed me Tenten trying to make a move on him once, and the game began.

_ Tenten and you? That kind of reminds me of Hana and Galto… _Another pang hit me, and my smile faltered and tears threatened, but I stopped them and held my smile.

_You sure are strong, hiding those emotions, but sooner or later they'll explode from their container and you won't be able to stop them. _

_ I know, but I can at least wait until I'm alone to do that. I have to keep up a good reputation for Asuka anyways; she hasn't seen me cry once. Don't worry. _

_ Chikako, pay attention to the game! They almost got to you and you didn't react at all, you just looked blankly at the water! _I heard Akane warn me, and I looked up and saw Kiba, Asuka, and Ino send me worried glances, but smiled at them reassuringly and put my head in the game.

It was Shikamaru's turn, which led him to move to the middle, close his eyes and spin, pointing, and stopped at me. He opened his eyes and smiled mischievously. I bit my lip and let my eyes dare him menacingly.

"Truth or Dare?"

"Dare," some people 'ohhed' immaturely and Ino sighed, exasperated with my answer. I tilted my head at her, but she didn't answer.

_No one has answered 'dare' to Shikamaru since he guessed right on about Rock Lee and Sakura and sent them behind the waterfall for ten minutes… Sakura came back looking very harassed. Shikamaru has a really strong idea of who is good with whom and uses that to his advantage in this game. He's a brutal darer._

_ Shit!_

"Hmm… I'll go easy on you sine you don't really know me, but Chikako, I dare you to kiss me… on the mouth," I stared at him, disbelievingly, and everyone laughed. "Do it or you have to forfeit and lose," Shikamaru smiled charmingly, and I felt my face get red as I let myself fall down into the river and go up to him. He wrapped his arms around me and pressed his lips to mine quickly, not letting me back out, and forcefully let his tongue in mine and kept my body to his for ten seconds straight. I heard Naruto whistle, and Ino laughed.

"Chikamaru! No… Shikako! Shikako's alive!" She yelled, and I pushed Shikamaru back and closed my eyes and spun and landed on Shikamaru, who was taken aback. I sighed, mentally tired of this, and looked at him.

"Truth or Dare?"

"Dare,"

"Seven Minutes behind the Waterfall with Ino," I said, and everyone laughed. I snickered. "Payback time," I said, and went back to where my place was beside Asuka and Hinata, everyone laughing their butts off. Asuka pulled me down so she could whisper in my ear.

"That's three now; Chiba, Neko, and now Chikamaru. I have two questions at the time- is there going to be anyone else and who's gonna be lucky?" I let my mouth drop and shot daggers at her.

"Well, I don't know yet; I barely know any of them! But, Neko and Chiba is more likely, because I was introduced to Shikamaru only today. Also, I think they're the only competitors; Shino's kind of obsessed with bugs, Choji isn't my type -no offence to him-, Rock Lee's too hyper, Naruto's in to Sakura and also isn't my type and Sai's kind of… well, you understand,"

"What about Kiba, Shikamaru and Neji?" Asuka asked, and I hummed.

"Well… for one, Shikamaru is too much of a mystery yet. But Neji seems really nice, mature, caring, and intelligent. He's also kind of cute," I stopped, hoping I didn't have to keep going to Kiba because I knew he could hear us. He was looking at Neji, studying him, but still seemed alert to me. "Akane put us under a Multiple Mind Molding Jutsu that'll last until the day after tomorrow. I have to spend most of my time trying to concentrate on hiding my thoughts. We've become closer this way, and I know he's crushing on me,"

"Aw! So Neko could be true after all!" She paused, letting her smile fade. "But what about Kiba-San?" I sighed.

"Well…" I hesitated, and looked at the water. "He's… um…" I cleared my throat and felt my face heat up immediately, and knew I must be blushing like crazy. "He sure is… uh…"

"Spit it out already, Chikako Senpai!" I sighed.

"He's hot," I whispered almost inaudible, and from the corner of my eye I could see Kiba lean in slightly and look at me. I averted my eyes and let a smile creep up and blushed even more.

"What?"

"He's…" I paused again. "Hot," I finally said, and wished I could die in a hole. I made sure I had blocked my thoughts from Neji and put my face up to hide my face.

"Is that all?"

"No!" I said in a loud whisper, but cleared my throat and lowered my voice. "He's funny, humorous, and likes canines too. Also, he seems gentle and caring, from how he treated me in the medical tent. I think he's stubborn, but I like that, and he's nice. He also handled the situation with you earlier good, which tells me he could be good with kids. You _know_ that's a major turn on," Asuka laughed and nodded, and I saw Kiba smile as I peeked.

"I can tell you're looking forward to the dinner, huh?" My face heated up again, and I saw Kiba give me a glance.

"Uh, why are you asking me this now?"

"I'm curious," Asuka stated cutely, "But are you?"

"You sure are a pain sometimes, Asuka," I said, and pulled her head towards me and gave her a knuckle sandwich, which made her laugh and push me away. "But… yeah," I admitted, shy again, and sighed. "But the way his mother talked to him… did you hear? Or is your ears not that good enough yet?"

"You mean when his mother made him go back and ask you for dinner?" I nodded. "Yeah, I heard her," I brought my legs up across my chest.

"Well, I know how adults can be with their children; very embarrassing. I mean, either way I'm not going to get scared away by his mother, but I think he's afraid I will, somehow. It may just be an assumption, but something slipped into his eye when I answered him before he asked me… something like foreboding,"

"Meh… oh well! So to me, you're favoring Kiba," I shook my head.

"They're equal to me right now." I said quickly, and shook my head. "Cut the subject, okay?" Asuka sighed and nodded, and I looked up to see Shikamaru and Ino coming back, looking embarrassed. Shikamaru glared at me, which I returned with sticking my tongue out and bringing my eyelid down with my finger.

Shikamaru groaned, got up, and went again, this time landing on none other than Neji.

"Truth or Dare?" he asked, and Neji closed his eyes.

"Well… I actually feel confident and lucky right now, so dare," everyone 'ohhed' again, and Shikamaru sent a glance back at me and I immediately sat back, a look of utter horror on my face.

"Since you felt confident and I want payback on Chikako, I say… _Fifteen_ Minutes behind the Waterfall with her!"

"FIFTEEN?!" I cried out with Neji in sync, and everyone laughed and wolf howled and clapped their hands. I stood up, falling into the river, and started to go up and hit Shikamaru, but Asuka grabbed me and held me back, holding her breath to do so.

"Now look here Shikamaru, I only did that because you made me kiss you! I had no idea that you had a crush on Ino! I don't even know your personality, so how would I know that you're just such a 'killer' at this game?! This isn't fair!" I rambled on, Asuka trying to calm me down, and everyone laughed, even Shikamaru.

"Just like Sakura!" Shikamaru said, and then there were two people trying to get at him. I quickly stopped and let Sakura do everything, but she stopped, and Shikamaru looked at me. "What are you waiting for? Go ahead and start!" I huffed and let myself drift to the top of the river and walked back to the waterfall with Neji right behind me.

"Great…" I whispered, and looked at him. "Asuka's probably going to eavesdrop with her ears… can we take the jutsu to advantage and talk that way? I can trust Akane, but Asuka has a mouth that can throw cannons," I said loudly, hoping Asuka heard that, and Neji chuckled and nodded. I sat down and leaned against the wall, and Neji sat beside me.

_I wish I didn't do that now… _Neji said.

_ Yuh' think?_

_ Hey, I was feeling cocky. _

_ Oh well… _

_ So, how do you like Konoha? It was prettier when it was intact, but besides that._

_ You mean the people? They're nice. _

_ Good… _We sat in awkward silence for a few minutes, and Neji sighed.

_Is your clan in that much trouble?_

_ Yeah… _I gave him small flashbacks of the events, and finally got to my mom being killed. I replayed it a couple times not being able to help myself and an involuntary tear slipped, and the next thing I knew I was crying silently into Neji's arms. He sighed.

"Shh… hey, it's okay… We'll save your clan." He paused for a while, and rubbed my back. "I'm sorry about your mom," I sniffled, and pulled away and gathered myself and put up a temporary block on my thoughts and promised myself, _Tonight, Chikako. Tonight you can let it out. But just not here, not now; for Asuka's sake. _I lowered the barrier and rubbed the tears away, sniffling again. Neji pulled me into another hug, and I closed my eyes, letting his warmth spread to me. He pulled away slightly and looked into my eyes, his mind unusually blank. _You learned how to make a mind block, I see. Good for you. _Neji averted his eyes momentarily. "You're like the sister I never had… Can we keep it that way?" He asked and I smiled, relieved, and nodded. Neji smiled back before getting up and offering his hand.

_The fifteen minutes are up… come on, let's go back out._ I nodded and took his hand, but he didn't let it go as we walked out from the waterfall, oddly enough. Asuka gave me a pouty face, showing me she heard and Kiba looked at me, worried. I guessed he could hear too, but I could be wrong. His eyes traveled down my arm and to Neji and my combined hands and looked away, clearly hurt. We took our places, and Neji got up and landed on Tenten, who was dared to go behind the waterfall with Rock Lee. Tenten got onto Ino and made her spit her deepest secret, which was that she liked more than one person, and she got up and landed on Kiba. Kiba took a dare, and she paused, thinking.

"I think we should even things out, huh Chikako? Fifteen Minutes behind the Waterfall with Chikako!" She giggled, and Kiba got up gloomily and walked to the waterfall. I sent Ino a worried glance and hurriedly followed behind him.

I found Kiba sitting at the back of the cave, barely visible in the darkness. I sighed and squatted down in front of him. I formed a powerful mental block and looked at Kiba.

"You're getting discouraged, huh?" Kiba cocked his head, still not looking at me.

"What do you mean?"

"You think Neji won me over." This got Kiba's attention. "I know you were listening in on Asuka and my conversation, and I also saw how dejected you looked when we went out of the cave."

"How do you know that?"

"It's kind of obvious… but, I'm also really keen to the behavior of animals and humans, and can read people's eyes pretty well,"

"Oh…" Kiba whispered sadly, and looked away from me.

"What did you hear when Neji and I were here?"

"Nothing but a sigh or two, some movement, and at the end some talking… it was muffled though." Kiba cringed, hurt.

"I was talking to him by mind… we're under a Mind Mold jutsu because of Akane." Kiba looked away. I sighed and pushed his face back to face mine, letting my hand waver for a moment before taking it away. "I meant everything I said to Asuka, you know," Kiba perked up slightly, but was still hurt, and I decided to come clean. I looked down and felt my cheeks heat up at the thought of just saying this, and felt butterflies in my stomach. "But-" I didn't get the chance to finish my sentence; Kiba suddenly tackled me down on my back, his lips pursed to mine. I was taken aback, but quickly recovered and kissed him back. He gained confidence from this and licked my bottom lip, asking for entrance, and I let him in and felt his tongue dance around with mine and explore my mouth.

We stayed like this for multiple minutes. I knew my cheeks were as red as a strawberry, and if he'd pull away I'd be even more embarrassed, which, was basically the deal. He pulled away slightly, took one look at my face, and laughed.

"You're worse than Hinata with Naruto!" He chuckled and I looked away, still blushing. Kiba sighed and plopped down humorously beside me and put his hands behind his head and his right knee up. "You know, that face is a major turn on," I blushed harder, and kept looking away. Apparently Kiba looked over to me because he laughed. "Are you always this shy? Wait, no… you even agreed to battle me, a total stranger…" I smiled, my cheeks still hot, and Kiba let his hand guide my head to face him. I sighed, and calmed myself down. Kiba tried to refrain from laughing, but couldn't help but chuckle.

"Oh, shut up!" I exclaimed and laughed with him at myself.

"What were you going to say before I cut you off?" Kiba suddenly asked, and I sighed.

"But I did lie about one thing; I didn't see you as equal then. I was favoring you more, like Asuka suggested." Kiba snorted cutely, making my cheeks go hot again slightly.

"Just don't let my mother change that, okay? She can be… ominous… at times."

"I'm not. What makes you think so?"

"She drove my dad away," I raised my eyebrows, suddenly reluctant to ask that.

"Sorry I asked…" I whispered, looking away. Kiba sighed and propped himself up on his arm and made me look at him.

"It's okay; it's more of a joke to us, actually. I still see him regularly; he's a Konoha Nin."

"Really? Who is it?"

"I'm not going to tell you! It's a secret."

"Will I ever meet him, then?"

"If you're lucky," Kiba gave me a sly glance, and we laughed at our weirdness. I felt Akane prick my mind, and let him in.

_Your fifteen minutes is up, you know… it's been seventeen minutes. The people are getting suspicious._

_ Oh, don't worry. We're just talking! _I said, wary of Neji, and sent him our piece of conversation from where he said 'She drove my dad away,' down, and got up.

"Akane says everyone's getting suspicious. We'd better go…" I held out my hand, and Kiba took it and pulled me down on his chest and kissed me once more before getting up with me and walking out. We kept straight faces as we sat down, and the game resumed with Asuka giving me a funny look. Asuka was dared to dance around like a monkey, get a piggyback ride from Rock Lee (who ran all the way to the village and back), and for Naruto to hide her clothes while I was dared to eat a leaf, kiss Akane on the mouth, and tell everyone what I did in the cave with Kiba. Finally the game ended with the sun starting to set. We splashed around a little bit more, Kiba hanging close to me and talking all the while, receiving a victorious look from Ino.

Finally, everyone got ready and went back to the village, tired, and split. Kiba smiled and reminded me about the 8:00 plans before leaving Asuka and me to our tent. I climbed in and changed, putting my kimono on and robe on top of that. I went to Ino's tent to give it back to her, but she let my keep it, saying it was too small for her.

When I returned Asuka was curled up with Kikako, asleep. I smiled and lied down with Akane, also catching a couple hours of sleep before joining Kiba with his mom and sister for dinner.

The dinner was awesome, the food delicious, and Hana, Kiba's sister, becoming friends with me immediately. Even Kiba's mother acted nice and not ominous. Asuka, too, was on good behavior, and Akane and Kikako loved the dogs' company. After the meal, we talked about why my clan was in trouble, random likes and dislikes, and other crappy stuff before Tsume finally kicked me out kindly. Kiba walked with us home, talking still. It turned out that he did have a sense of humor, was caring, nice, and everything else I thought he was and even more. He was full of himself, but not to an annoying extent to me. He's also helpful and stubborn, showing me this by helping with cleaning the table off but refusing to let us walk back alone.

When we got back to the tent, Asuka went in immediately and plopped down, asleep already.

"She sure did have a fun time," I whispered, and Kiba laughed softly.

"I can tell! I guess she finally met her limit after… what, thirty whole minutes of chasing the dogs and a whole day of running around? I'm impressed." I smiled and Kiba's eyes glistened in the night, making my cheeks heat up. Kiba leaned in and gave me one last kiss before letting me into the tent and walking off. I immediately plopped down beside Akane, too tired to even say anything, and fell victim to sleep immediately, not knowing that I was going to have an unwanted memory.


End file.
